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You can Lead a Horse to Water …

I knew exactly what I wanted to Blog about for this post … I’m frustrated this week! VERY frustrated … and I know better and that’s doubly frustrating. But it has to do with family and sometimes with family, everything you know goes out the window.

My mom warned me, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown but I don’t turn my back on family. So what the heck am I ranting about? A close family member was just diagnosed with a potentially deadly autoimmune disease. And I have knowledge, experience and simple, natural ways to offer help.

You know the saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” … well, for this blog, I went out to my little herd of horses, picked one and led her to the water trough with the intention of taking a pic of her refusing to drink… but instead of just standing there, she seemed to say “Thank you, I think I will take a drink” … argh … so I waited and snapped a few more pics hoping you wouldn’t see the water dripping from her mouth and I even backed NIcci up in the 4th picture so it would look like she was refusing to come near the water but then she walked back up in pic 5 and said “Thank you again, I’ll take another drink” … so much for my picture sequence, even my horses appreciate the offer of help I give them … and being authentic means I couldn’t give you a fake picture – so that’s why I posted them all and am telling you the story behind them.

But back to my family member, it didn’t turn out the same way with him as it did with my horse unfortunately. I explained the metaphor of everyone in life having a bucket, some bigger than others due to genetics, and some filling faster than other’s due to the environment they live in and the life choice’s they make … but when the bucket get’s filled with life’s toxins (toxic food, toxic chemicals we clean with, toxic insecticides, toxic plastics leaching into our system, toxic air, toxic water, toxic relationships, etc etc etc) … well, then we get sick – depending on what way our body weakness leans, we get cancer, or we get chronic pain, or we get an organ inflammation, or an autoimmune disease.

This family member is young, only 20’s, and it may feel unfair that his bucket seems smaller and has filled faster than other peoples buckets BUT the good news is he can work on emptying the bucket … work on detoxing his body so that his immune system is less taxed and the self-healing mechanism of his body has the opportunity to kick in gear. Because this isn’t simply a pill, rarely will it be prescribed by a doctor … because it’s a lifelong work … it’s a lifestyle change. Very doable now a days because of public awareness, health consciousness, gluten-free organic foods and the whole “green” movement.

But lifestyle changes can feel overwhelming, so to be successful, you need to start slow and keep it very simple … building one success on another, feeling what one small change does to your energy level and moving on from there. I know that, so I recommended 3 things: 1) eat an apple a day (pectin helps to detox and the fiber is good for the gut which hosts a lot of the immune system); 2) ask your doctor about a supplement called Abzorb from HCP – because his autoimmune disease affects absorption of vitamins in his gut and this would be a natural way to increase absorption and I’d give him this supplement if his doc said OK; and 3) experience stress relief and detox naturally with a simple essential oil back massage – I’d teach him and his girlfriend how to do this for each other and it’d take about 5 minutes and I’d gift them with the oils.

All he had to say was “YES” he was willing to try these 3 simple things – eat an apple a day, give and receive a short massage a day with a loved one, and ask his doctor about taking a pill a day and I will gratefully support him with everything he needs to do this. But he politely said “no” – he didn’t feel he was under any stress.

OMG, why am I triggered by that? Not under any stress? I want to scream from the rooftops – “Honey, a body doesn’t get an autoimmune problem if there isn’t cellular stress” … somethings going on where the body is so toxic it doesn’t even recognize it’s own self anymore and the immune system, which normally protects you from threats, accidentally now see’s it’s own body as a threat and is attacking itself … I certainly don’t have all the answers and I’m very happy he’s working with a knowledgable doctor, but it feels really frustrating when I have help to offer, and I’m rejected and I have to watch this family member struggle. It hurts, it’s painful on all accounts, even when I respect the fact that other people have a right to their choices and that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.

I left the door open for my offer to him – so hoping he will decide to try it in the future! In his situation, I perceive there is a small window of opportunity to change the course of his diagnosis – he’s teetering on the brink – and I’m worried if he doesn’t take advantage now and get on safer ground, that he will be hurling down the cliff when he asks for help, and what I’m offering is proactive, not as helpful as reactive crisis treatment… just breaks my heart when people resist being proactive with their health.